


Chalk Art

by firebird_and_pegasus



Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, M/M, but this is kind of when enjy started getting a crush, they are not actually in a relationship yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:42:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26307268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firebird_and_pegasus/pseuds/firebird_and_pegasus
Summary: Enjolras is stuck doing his least favorite job, again, when Grantaire shows up with his far superior art skills, skateboard, and all of the questions that Enjy still does not know the answers to. Aka: how Enjolras got a crush on Grantaire and did not realize it until Combeferre and Courfeyrac started teasing him.
Relationships: Combeferre & Enjolras (Les Misérables), Courfeyrac & Enjolras (Les Misérables), Enjolras & Grantaire (Les Misérables), Enjolras/Grantaire (Les Misérables)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 48





	Chalk Art

**Author's Note:**

> This was just a little idea that I got when I saw some people writing info for a club meeting on the sidewalk one day last year that would not leave me alone so I finally wrote it. Enjoy!

Enjolras sighed, examining his work. Many people seemed to think that his least favorite task as leader of the Les Amis de l'ABC (the best activist group on campus, if he did say so himself) would be something along the lines of organizing paperwork (why do they think Combeferre is there?), going to touchy meetings with higher ups at the college (honestly, he has pretty good relationships with all of them by now, even if they do have differing opinions), or just public speaking in general (he has lost all sense of stage fright at this point). The worst part, and it truly was the worst, was drawing the club info on the sidewalks around campus. It was extremely time consuming, boring, tedious, and not something he was in any way skilled at. Depending on the time of year, he was either sweating to death, like he was now, or shivering so hard he could barely hold the chalk, never in-between. It only brought a few people in, but it was the only way to get ANYONE after week one, and no one else could or would do it, so he did it. 

“Hey Enjolras!” A skateboard rolled up beside him, which he stopped with his foot. The person who had been on it was not someone he particularly wanted to see at that moment. 

“Hi, Grantaire.” Enjolras said, trying to be polite.

At this point, Grantaire had only been to a handful of meetings, bringing his sarcastic comments, generally good intended and very intelligent, but also very off topic, rants along the sketchbook that never seemed to far from him. Enjolras was still figuring out what to make of him. He was just so confusing. Was he with the cause or against it? Did he approve of their work, or think that they were ridiculous? Why would he keep showing up if he disagreed? Why would he argue things as much as he did if he did agree? Grantaire just confused him a lot. Instead of demanding answers in the middle of the busiest sidewalk on campus, Enjolras just kept writing silently.

“Do you need help with that?”

Enjolras turned up to him, “You mean with the chalk?”

“Yeah!” Grantaire seemed oddly excited about the idea.

“You want to help me write meeting times?” Enjolras asked again, just making sure that he was hearing him correctly. He had no problem with letting someone else help, but this was the one thing that, whenever he asked for volunteers, led to everyone else avoiding his eyes awkwardly. No one, as far as he was aware, ever wanted to do this.

“Of course! I am a visual arts major…” he looked almost hesitant to say his thoughts, but also like he wanted to desperately wanted to rescue Enjolras’ pathetic attempts at art from his under-qualified hands.

“You can say that you can do this a lot better than me. I know that I have the art skills of a three year old.” Enjolras said, smiling over as Grantaire knelt beside him. 

“I wouldn’t say that! Three year olds are far better artists than most professionals right now!” He stated, already reaching for the chalk bucket, his normal sarcastic jabs returning now that he knew that Enjolras would not get offended. 

“Are you saying that I am worse than a three year old?” Enjolras asked, trying to look insulted, but a small smile was starting to tug at his lips. 

Grantaire just laughed, which was enough of a response on its own. 

“Gee, thanks.” Enjolras said rolling his eyes, before joining the laughter.

Within a few minutes, Grantaire had managed to turn the rough letters into something actually attractive looking. Enjolras stared down at the now red, white, and blue highlighted information with a few rosettes, like the ones on their buttons, around it. He could not help but feel impressed with how easily Grantaire had managed it. 

“So, are we doing any more?” Grantaire asked, smiling brightly.

“I am meeting Courfeyrac and Combeferre over at the dining hall. I kind of wanted to put one there too.”

“Sweet! Let’s go!” He jumped to his feet and offered Enjolras a hand.

“Are you actually enjoying this?” Enjolras asked, accepting the hand up. 

“It is my major, so I better actually enjoy doing it. Come on!” He had gotten back on his skateboard and was offering Enjolras his hand again. This time Enjolras just stared at him blankly.

“Are you expecting us both to fit on that?”

“Yeah? Bossuet and I do it all the time.”

Enjolras still looked skeptical but figured that it couldn’t be too dangerous if Bossuet, with his horrible luck, had not gotten a concussion from it. He accepted the offered hand. “Okay, how?”

Grantaire laughed, nudging his feet so that he was standing behind him, hands on his shoulders. This was far closer than Enjolras ever expected to be to Grantaire, but he did not have time to dwell on that fact because has soon as both of his feet were securely on, they were moving far faster than he would have liked for his first time on a skateboard. Once he got over the initial shock, he realized that he was rather enjoying the unexpected adventure. Grantaire was clearly very good at skateboarding, so there seemed to a little chance of them running into something. Also, it was late in the evening, so no one was around to run into, or see how tightly he was clinging to R’s back. The campus seemed to fly by him. He slowly relaxed his death grip on Grantaire’s shoulders as he figured out how to balance himself. As the entrance to the dining hall came into view, he couldn’t help but feel a little sad that they had gotten there so quickly. It didn’t even take half the time that waking would have taken, which is also a good thing because if Courf saw him right now he would never hear the end of it. 

Grantaire stopped close to the entrance then held the board steady for Enjolras to get off. 

“That was actually really fun!” Enjolras admitted, causing Grantaire to chuckle.

“I am glad that you had fun, Apollo. Now, where do you want this thing?” He looked very eager to get drawing again, so Enjolras ignored the nickname. That was another thing that confused him. Why on earth would he call him Apollo? Seemed kind of random and weird. He did not see any connection between himself and the deity, but he was also pretty unfamiliar with Greek mythology. He really did not dislike the nickname, he did oddly like it coming from Grantaire, it just confused him. 

“Where ever you think it would most likely get noticed.” Enjolras said, again figuring that it would be unwise to question him right outside one of the busiest buildings on campus, especially right at the end of the dinner rush. Also, he had already done 5 of these before Grantaire had showed up and was getting quite tiered. 

“How about, here! Over on the path to that dorm building, less apt to have someone standing on it when others are passing by but still visible from the main area!”

“Sounds good to me!”

Grantaire got to work right away, taking happily as he went. As they talked, Enjolras found himself genuinely enjoying the presence of the person who 20 minutes before had been the last person the he wanted to talk to. About half an hour later, Grantaire had long since finished the drawing and had sat next to him on the brick wall beside the path. 

“Hi, Enjy! Hello Grantaire, what are you up to tonight?” Courfeyrac greeted them, showing up with Combeferre right when they were supposed to meet.

“That!” Enjolras responded for Grantaire, pointing out the chalk art. 

“I am assuming that Enjolras had nothing to do with that.” Combeferre joked, knowing his best friend a little too well. Grantaire laughed loudly.

“Definitely not, it was all Grantaire.” Enjolras said honestly, ignoring the jab at his own skills for the time being. His comeback could wait until Grantaire was not present and it was just the three of them.

The small groups all appreciated the chalk for a moment before Grantaire announced, “Well I have my astronomy lab starting soon, so I should be off. See you all Thursday!”

As soon as he was out of earshot, Enjolras turned to Combeferre, “I know my drawing his horrible, but at least my writing is legible.”

“At least I am not the one how couldn’t take my eyes off of a certain artist for longer than five seconds!” Combeferre shot back, teasing.

“I was not…”

“Yes you were!” Courfeyrac joined in, “So tell us about your date!”

“What are you taking about? It was not a date!”

That Thursday, Grantaire officially joined he group and Enjolras immediately put him in charge of all chalk art on campus. Everyone outside of the three leaders and Grantaire himself seemed surprised that Enjolras officially assigned someone to it after so many years of not forcing it, and that Grantaire seemed to be happy about it. There also seemed to be a lot more people showing up saying that they saw the chalk around campus after Grantaire took over. Strange.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope that you all like it! It was very fun to write. Feel free to leave comments or come say hi over on Tumblr (@firebird-and-pegasus)


End file.
